Copyright Law Software and copyright Licensing Software Piracy Copyright and the Internet

Copyright gives certain legal protection to authors of materials

Originally intended for books, sheet music, photographs etc.

In the U.K. it is covered by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998

This is the U.K. form of the Intellectual Property Rights (IRP) legislation which exist in most countries

The legislation exists to both◦ ensure people are rewarded for the endeavours◦ give protection to the copyright holder if there is

an infringement

Current legislation embodies Moral Rights - copyright holder has a right

to ensure works are not used in an inappropriate way

‘fair use’ clauses - e.g. schools allowed to copy 1% of a published work

Literary works - includes books, poetry, telephone directories, computer programs

Musical works - of all kinds Dramatic works - not only plays but adverts

etc. Artistic works - including crafts e.g.

jewellery designs

Sound recordings - discs, tapes, CDs etc. Film recordings - on all media Broadcasts - both audio and video Cable broadcasts - e.g. cable TV

programmes Typographical arrangements - e.g. e-books,

web pages (of text) etc.

◦ Multimedia not specifically covered◦ Computer graphics cause particular problems.◦ Local copyright laws take precedence - important

in Internet disputes◦ ‘Look and feel’ - difficult to prove that software is

a copy◦ ‘Reverse engineering’ - write a computer program

so that it looks the same but uses different code

Copying of pictures, sound files, music is rife esp. Fan sites

Many believe, mistakenly, that internet is copyright free.

Site ‘cloning’ becoming widespread Only large companies have resources to

pursue claims e.g. Disney Napster case very important development

A software licensing agreement is a legal contract between the software producer and the user that sets out how the piece of software may be used.

Single-user licence◦ Allows a copy of the software to be installed on

one machine◦ Might specifies ‘one copy may be in use at one

time’ – install on two machines

Multi-user licence◦ Allows an organisation to install the software

package on an agreed number of machines◦ Costs less as several single-user licences

Site Licence◦ Allows the user to purchase a single copy of the software

with permission to install it on all the computers at a single location.

◦ Common in education sector

Licence by use◦ Allows the software to be installed on a large number of

stand alone computers.◦ However, only an agreed number of users are allowed to

run the software at any given time.

Network Licence◦ One copy of the software stored on the file server◦ An agreed number of users e.g. 10◦ Software accessible to all computers e.g. 100◦ However, when the 11th person tries to use the

software, access will be denied

Multi user licence - can be used by a set number of people

Site licence - can be used on all computers on one site e.g. a school

Academic licence - for students and teachers, usually single user

Education licence - for schools, colleges; cheap, multi user

Shareware - have to pay for updates, support, sometime time limited

Freeware - no cost at all Charity ware - donation to charity

encouraged Post card ware - send a postcard to the

author Free software movement - encourages

freeware authors

Essentially the copying of software without an appropriate licence

Multi £ billion business esp. in Far East e.g. all major graphics programs - normal cost ~£6, 000 - pirate copy £5

In UK and USA video games (on CD) very popular

CD-R and Internet has made process very easy

At basic level ◦ Serial no.◦ legal protection (copyright act)

More advanced◦ Dongles◦ Electronic copy protection - code scrambler◦ Regionalisation e.g DVD

Systems do not work◦ Copyright act - legal mine field◦ Serial No. - web site specialise in publishing

serial No.s for popular software◦ Dongles - reverse engineering of device◦ Electronic methods - broken within hours of

publication◦ Regionalisation - code breakers widely available

Software piracy will remain major problem Internet and CD-R exacerbate problem Piracy keeps software prices high Encourages more piracy - catch 22 Music, video and game copying increasingly

common, will increase with advent of DVD-R